The skull called “the relic of Mary Magdalene” is sealed inside a reliquary in Saint-Maximin-La-Sainte-Baume basilic in the south of France. It is venerated since the middle ages and was found in a stone coffin.

The story tells that around the year 50 Mary with other disciples of Jesus reached the south of France by boat. In the XX century, an anthropology study described the skull as a “gracile Mediterranean type woman around her 50s. Pollen from the middle east was found in the deep nasal cavity.

As the reliquary is sealed, photogrammetry was the only way to obtain a partial frontal digital copy. Two versions were created: a younger one and an older one in a collodion photo style.